Comorbilidades de los pacientes

Glossary >

Notes on drawing

> Conclusion

Tim Fernée, Bill Plympton and Deanna Marsigliese are all fine actors working through the medium of the pencil; their animated stage is perpetually freshened and reinvented by the primal nature of expressing through mark-making the most contemporary of concerns, contexts and cultures. Here they share their notes on drawing.

The focus of the book has been to suggest that there are many more uses for, and applications of, drawing in animation than simply the long-established classical approach. While Disney-style full animation has informed the art of character animation since the 1920s and remains an intrinsic aspect of the form, a comprehensive account of classical animation has not been provided here – that is best written of elsewhere (see Bibliography). It is, however, a touchstone to the place of other drawing styles and drawing as a creative tool. This book has sought to offer advice to reduce the intimidation that the demands of classical drawing in animation places upon potential animators and to demonstrate how, by thinking differently and using drawing in other ways, it is possible to animate through other approaches.

The act of learning to draw has been encouraged throughout this book and there is little doubt that, with practice, dedication and focused aesthetic intention, the quality of what is drawn improves. Constantly observing everyday life, embracing material from all aspects of the media, persistently seeking to ask questions and solve problems, learning from mistakes, and previsualising the intended work are all crucial to being successful in drawing for animation. It is also the case that learning from ‘the greats’, many of whom appear or are referenced in this book, is absolutely vital.

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 2 Page:180

Tim Fernée

Drawing for Animation

▶

title

The Marsh King’s Daughter

animator

Tim Fernée

Ink and digipainting pushed further to evoke the world of fairy tale and classic children’s illustration.

Tim Fernée has considerable experience in the animation industry, and his expertise is well acknowledged, so it is a surprise when his advice is prefaced with an interesting admission: ‘My own drawing ability is limited. I can draw quickly – which is a strength in animation – but my weakness is, when I slow down, the drawings get worse! Consequently, I should feel fraudulent pontificating about how to draw well for animation. But I have had to give some thought as to how drawn animation works, simply to make the best of what drawing ability I have.’

This is a very important observation in the sense that it is important to match innate skill with the demands of the task, informed by the best advice. As an experienced animator, therefore, Fernée offers the following tips:

▶ Know how things work

However well you can draw, you cannot possibly animate a movement – mechanical or organic – that you do not understand. Mastering movement in this way will help your animation make the most of your drawing.

▶ Understand the process

Drawing for animation is akin to drawing for printing. Some aspects of your drawings are emphasised; others are lost. Even an untreated sketch or hand-rendered animation takes on a life of its own when it is shot and, nowadays, you are far more likely to be drawing into software. Whatever the process, understand it and turn it to your advantage.

Notes on drawing

180 | 181

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 2 Page:181 Glossary > Notes on drawing > Conclusion

◀

title

Rowlandson Rides Again

animator

Tim Fernée

Frame from Rowlandson Rides

Again whose sketch-like

combination of pencil and Photoshop evokes the artist’s rumbustious Regency world so effectively it ended up in the politically incorrect section of the Annecy Film Festival.

▶ Teamwork

Drawing for animation is almost always a team enterprise. It is legitimate to select colleagues who help conceal your (and one another’s) inadequacies; indeed, it is a necessary skill, without which you cannot make a film longer or better than you yourself can draw!

▶ Drawing as a development tool As animation production becomes less dependent upon drawing, those of us who draw obsessively find ourselves increasingly involved in the visual thinking-through that is development, presenting us with wonderful opportunities to create visual narrative and challenging us to make our visual thinking ever clearer and more accessible.

▶ Understand timing

This is not only the essence of drama but also of believability – conveying such physicalities as weight, scale and distance. Good drawing will not yield convincing animation without good timing (some of the earliest animation is beautifully drawn but doesn’t work because timing had yet to be understood), whereas good timing can bring to life imperfect drawings.

▶ Memory – analysis

Try to understand the relationship between animation and memory. Animation requires drawings based on observation, but the chord they must strike is in the memory or imagination of the audience. Even a walk or run will be unconvincing to someone who remembers the action differently, and once you have to explain to an audience (or client) that something they think looks wrong is actually right, you are lost, Muybridge notwithstanding….

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 2 Page:182

Bill Plympton

Drawing for Animation

▶

title

Idiots and Angels

artist

Bill Plympton

A sample of images from Idiots

and Angels. Plympton’s

signature style figures feature in typically sparse environments, but unusually here, in a more sombrely toned and coloured mise-en-scène.

Plympton established his reputation and style through drawing political cartoons and working in illustration, although he did not become an animator until later in his career. He recalls: ‘As an illustrator and cartoonist, I had built up over the years a pile of funny ideas for animated films; it was just a question of drawing them. All those years pent up, not being an animator, made me feel I was way behind schedule; that I had missed the boat and needed to catch up. I went back through my old ideas and made short films, one every two or three months or so. (One Of Those Days (1988), for example, came out of a cartoon that I did for a men’s magazine. It was the last things that famous people saw before they died – it was really popular.) People have said that I am very prolific but it was those 15 years not doing animation that made me want to get my ideas out there and find an audience.’ Bill Plympton is one of the leading comedy

animation auteurs and is revered for his particular style of cartooning. Here he identifies a dozen key ideas which he believes are important in relation to drawing for animation:

▶ Draw all the time.

▶ Learn how to draw faces, feet, hands and fabric.

▶ Draw from TV.

▶ Use shadows.

▶ Have a kid’s curiosity.

▶ Find a unique style.

▶ Be observant of life.

▶ Carry a pencil and pad everywhere.

▶ Love the mistakes.

▶ Draw scenes from all different angles.

▶ Steal from the greats.

▶ Visualise the image in your mind before drawing.

Notes on drawing

182 | 183

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 2 Page:183

Glossary >

Notes on drawing

> Conclusion

He also stresses the importance of embracing opportunities to practise and learn in the development of a craft: ‘When I moved to New York in 1975, I managed to draw political cartoons for the SoHo Weekly News. This was the Ford era, which compelled everyone to be politicised, so my art became politicised. I soon became bored with it though, and I was not very good at it; I was unusual too, because I did a continuity strip, not a single-box cartoon. But I was doing a lot of other things – the sex cartoons for the men’s magazines; commercial illustrations, lots.’

Plympton’s independence and free- spiritedness has informed his career and output, enabled him to resist being absorbed into one of the major studios and to continue working with his own signature drawing style. A webcam on Plympton’s website allows over-the-shoulder access to his drawing and approach on his latest feature, Idiots and

Angels, and provides a useful learning tool.

Plympton remembers fondly his first forays in the understanding of the animated form, and underlines here the significance of using published sources to enhance technique and approach: ‘I was obsessed with The Mickey Mouse Club. I joined the club and got the magazine – I thought that was the height of animation. I thought some characters were really appealing through being well drawn – especially in something like The Jungle Book. My aunt took me to Disneyland when I was 12 or 13. The thing I remember most was wanting this Walt Disney animation book in the shop. It just goes to show how single-minded I was about being an animator. I wanted to see this book and find out how these guys made these films. It was a rational response to me.’

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 2 Page:184

Deanna Marsigliese

Drawing for Animation

Marsigliese offers the following advice regarding dynamics in animation:

▶ Your lines should come together to convey movement and emotion, giving a sense of life to each storytelling pose. It is important to stay loose.

▶ Always draw from the shoulder, rather than your wrist. This will give you more freedom and movement, allowing you to sketch broader, more dynamic gestural lines.

▶ When posing for animation, it is a good idea to lay down a structural foundation using a line of action. This allows for a greater sense of direction, force and balance right from the very beginning. Use this line to give your drawings fluidity and unity.

▶ As you continue to flush out the pose, be aware of your volumes, proportions and overall silhouette.

▶ Be economical with your lines to avoid noodling, using darker strokes to convey tension and weight.

▶ Stay gestural.

▶ Poses should appear effortless and dynamic.

▶ Do not labour over your work.

▶ Unnecessary lines and details will stiffen the drawing and interrupt the rhythm. If Fernée and Plympton offer advice as

experienced practitioners, it is useful to conclude this section with some points from Deanna Marsigliese, who not only creates her own work, but is a dedicated teacher of animation.

Although classically trained, she explains: ‘I have developed my artistic skills by drawing constantly and working closely with talented peers, instructors and colleagues. I don’t believe that drawing for animation is concerned with any one style in particular. Animation drawings are defined by their purpose; to convey life, story, movement. Each drawing should feel like it is part of an ongoing sequence, displaying a sense of force, direction, weight, clarity and, of course, emotion. Regardless of one’s drawing style, drawing for animation involves dynamics; conveying a sense of energy and life.’

Notes on drawing

184 | 185

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 1 Page:185

‘When character-designing for animation, I find that my approach is purely intuitive. I may begin with little direction and

experiment with the use of different shapes, colours and lines, choosing combinations that will best depict that character’s personality. It is important to read the script, note the dialogue, and get a sense of your character’s mannerisms, habits and overall demeanour. In my opinion, your character is only as believable as you imagine him or her to be. When designing, do so with appeal: clean shapes, fun proportions, contrasting straights and curves, lines that show form and movement. Different approaches to these principles can be seen in the works of other artists you admire. When in need of more inspiration, I will take it from life. Being surrounded by other people allows me to capture their characteristics, facial features and body types in my design work. Drawing on textured surfaces with new colours and media also encourages accidental effects and unique ways of approaching a design. Finally, it is important to create within a state of timelessness; to relax, explore and have fun.’

Marsigliese argues that animation drawing should be not merely functional, but also informed by the technical dexterity of its execution and a versatile language of expression: ‘My drawing processes vary depending on the project. When I draw specifically for an animated sequence I use a combination of all of the above points. I am a great believer in research. I often tell my students to dedicate at least one-third of their allotted time to the analysis of the movement and/or the emotions portrayed. This will allow you to draw with accuracy. It is important to take inspiration from life and to carry it into your character poses. Afterward, I will use my intuition to enhance my drawings through caricature, pushing and pulling the shapes and lines, adding weight and exaggeration as needed. Finally, I will explore the poses further, adding creative touches and details. It’s very helpful to lay the “technical”, more accurate foundations down first, then layer them with caricature and exaggeration. Glossary > Notes on drawing > Conclusion

◀▶

Playful design artist Deanna Marsigliese

Marsigliese’s sense of fun emerges in these playful images of mermaids and caricatures of The Beatles.

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 1 Page:186

▼

United Airlines advertisement

artist

Joanna Quinn At the outset of this project, I discussed with

Joanna Quinn and Les Mills how we might collaborate on a book. Joanna wished to bring her own sense of the pure joy and intrinsic skills of drawing to the project, while Les wished to add his thoughts on relating narrative and concept to the drawing enterprise. I wanted to add ‘the bigger picture’, determined to move the subject of ‘drawing for animation’ beyond the technical manuals largely concerned with reiterating classical animation techniques, and the seemingly singular association of ‘drawing’ with ‘the cartoon’. What was important for all three authors was to offer some practical tools, some critical analysis, and encouragement to experiment with and embrace all kinds of different models of drawing for animation. We hope we have achieved this aim.

Quinn herself has become an acknowledged master of animation, and the colleagues within the field represented here, among them de Wit, Driessen, Plympton and Cook, for example, all share a mutual respect and admiration for each other’s achievements. More significantly, though, all wish to engage with the breadth of visual influences from comic strips to fine art; illustration to primitive forms; political cartooning to animation itself, and embrace all related art forms from dance to sculpture to theatre. This willingness to use all manner of visual cultures in the service of animation is crucial in the development of core skills and knowledge and the creation of a distinctive work; work that in this instance springs from the versatility of the drawn form and the unique expression available

through animation.

This book has sought to offer a range of trajectories so that drawing for animation will be understood as a complex and varied form operating in numerous contexts, and not merely that of classical animation in the Disney style. A key intention – essentially the desire to help cultivate the ability to translate a significantly expressive feeling or thought on to paper and into motion – is effectively at the heart of this discussion. Drawing can evidence memories, thoughts, emotions and speculation, and it is truly the ‘bodily stuff’ in communicating our complex and demanding inner characters, landscapes and signs. Drawing remains the fundamental language of expression underpinning all forms of animation even in the digital era; mark- making will continue to be the most primal and formative of expressions, and animation its most sophisticated vehicle in the creation of meaning and effect.

Drawing for Animation

Conclusion

186 | 187

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 2 Page:187 Notes on drawing > Conclusion/Bibliography > Filmography Key texts Hart, C (1997) How to Draw Animation

New York: Watson-Guptill Publications

Missal, S (2004)

Exploring Drawing For Animation

New York: Thomson Delmar Learning

Whitaker H & Halas, J (2002) Timing for Animation

Boston & Oxford: Focal Press

White, T (1999) The Animator’s Workbook

New York: Watson-Guptill Publications

Williams, R (2001) The Animator’s Survival Kit

London & Boston: Faber & Faber

Animation history Adams, TR (1991)

Tom and Jerry: 50 Years of Cat and Mouse

New York: Crescent Books

Adamson, J (1974) Tex Avery: King of Cartoons

New York: Da Capo

Barrier, M (1999) Hollywood Cartoons:

American Animation in the Golden Age

New York & Oxford: OUP

Beck, J (1994)

The 50 Greatest Cartoons

Atlanta: Turner Publishing Co

Bendazzi, G (1994)

Cartoons: 100 Years of Cartoon Animation

London: John Libbey

Brion, P (1990)

Tom and Jerry: The Definitive Guide to their Animated Adventures

New York: Crown

Bruce Holman, L (1975) Puppet Animation in the Cinema: History and Technique

Cranberry: New Jersey

Cabarga, L (1988) The Fleischer Story

New York: Da Capo

Crafton, D (1993) Before Mickey:

The Animated Film 1898–1928

Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Eliot, M (1994) Walt Disney:

Hollywood’s Dark Prince

London: André Deutsch

Frierson, M (1993)

Clay Animation: American Highlights 1908–Present

New York: Twayne

Holliss, R & Sibley, B (1988) The Disney Studio Story

New York: Crown

Kenner H (1994) Chuck Jones: A Flurry Of Drawings

Berkeley: University of California Press

Maltin, L (1987) Of Mice and Magic

A History of American Animated Cartoons

New York: New American Library

Manvell, R (1980)

Art and Animation: The Story of Halas and Batchelor Animation Studio 1940–1980

Keynsham: Clive Farrow

Merritt, R & Kaufman, JB (1993) Walt in Wonderland:

The Silent Films of Walt Disney

Baltimore & Maryland: John Hopkins University Press

Sandler, K (ed) (1998) Reading the Rabbit:

Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation

New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press

Bibliography

Job No:01055 Title:Basics Animation: Drawing for Animation

Proof - 1 Page:188

Bibliography

Drawing for Animation

Art and animation Allan, R (1999) Walt Disney and Europe

London: John Libbey

Faber, L & Walters, H (2004)

Animation Unlimited: Innovative Short Films Since 1940

London: Laurence King Publishing

Finch, C (1988)

The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to Magic Kingdoms

New York: Portland House

Gravett, P (2004) Manga:

Sixty Years of Japanese Comics

London: Laurence King Publishing

Halas, V and Wells, P (2006) Halas & Batchelor Cartoons: An Animated History

London: Southbank Publishing

Jones, C (1990) Chuck Amuck

London: Simon & Schuster

Jones, C (1996) Chuck Reducks

New York: Time Warner

McCarthy, H (2002)

Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation

Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press

Pointon, M (ed) (1995) Art History

[Cartoon: Caricature: Animation]

Vol 18, No 1, March 1995

Russett, R & Starr, C (1988) Experimental Animation: Origins of a New Art

New York: Da Capo

Wells, P (1997) (ed) Art and Animation

London: Academy Group/ John Wiley

Wiedemann, J (ed) (2005) Animation Now!

London & Los Angeles: Taschen

Withrow, S (2003) Toon Art

Lewes: Ilex

Animation practice Beckerman, H (2004) Animation: The Whole Story

New York: Allworth Press

Birn, J (2000)

Digital Lighting and Rendering

Berkeley, Ca: New Riders Press

In document UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE SAN MARTÍN - TARAPOTO (página 68-88)